Genealogy Chat

can anyone help?
i found out today from my mum that my dad was a Sgt in the Royal Engineers,based in Hiafa [don't know if that's the right spelling?]
now, dad was born 1925 so at the beginning of the war he would of been 14, would he have been called up at 18? what was the age for being called up??
would i be able to find his records?

this info is all new to me, well i knew he had been in the army cos i have army photos of him, dad died in 1966 when i was 14, but as a little girl it is something i never asked him, well little girls did'nt did they!!!!

thanks,
Chris.

If you wite to
Army Personnel Centre
HQ Secretariat
Historical Disclosures
Mail Point 400
Kentigern House
65 Brown Street
Glasgow
G2 8EX
They will send you a form, they do charge £25 to search for the records ,hope that helps
Janice

If you put your mums name on the form, your dads army records will be free. they are free to the widows, but not to the children. I have just got my fathers records in this way.
The telephone number is 0141 224 5147 I phoned them and asked for a form to be sent out.to my mum. I actually filled the form in, she just signed it

Linda

Linda,
is there anywhere i can download the form on the net?
if not, i will give the No. a go.
will i need his rank and No? as i don't know it.
chris.

You can download the form here: http://www.veteransagency.org.uk/

Click on Service records, then scroll down
where it says SAR form.


Jennifer

You can't download the form, you do have to fill in the original, they were really nice when I rang up. You do need as much information as possible. I was lucky and had my fathers service number which made things easier.
There is an alternative number on thier website
Tel: 0845 600 9663, option 1, then option 3

http://www.army.mod.uk/contacts/divisions/records.htm

This following link takes you to a page where you can see the information sheet which they send out with the form, but not the form itself. Ideally they need the service number, are you sure that your mum doesn't have any old documents, my dad had kept some of his. If you don't have the service number, then his date of birth may let them track him. As he seems to have joined so young, I wonder if he lied about his date of birth, which may be a problem

http://www.veterans-uk.info/pdfs/service_records/army_pack.pdf

Linda

Oops, it seems you can download the form from the post above

Are you sure it was during WW2 that he was in Haifa....he could have been based there at the end of WW2 and for some time after...the British Army were there controlling the area we now know as Jordan and Israel ref:British Mandate for Palestine.

They were there until the end of British Mandate (1948 when the State of Israel was born) and possibly remained after that in a smaller capacity - don't know about that, hopefully someone else does!!
Try Google ?

Good luck.
K

thanks for all your replys, you have all been very helpfull, i will follow up all that you have suggested.

Karen,
yes it was ww2 but i think it would of been near the end, what i know is that he was helping jewish refugees.

Linda,
i doubt mum woul have any documents now, probably lost over the years.

Lost for words,
no he was'nt in the army when they married,
they married 1948.


i will copy & paste all the websites you have all suggested and will look at them later on.

thanks again,
Chris.

Hi Chris,

I also wanted info on my dads army record and i searched everywere to no avail, then last week i mentioned to my mum about it , and she went to her jewelry box and in the bottom was a army service book of my dads , i asked why i hadnt known about it before , her reply was i hadnt asked (she is 83 so gets mixed up so i dont ask too many questions regarding the family .

My advise is ask your mum if she has any service records you might be lucky like i was , and totally suprised .

all the best
sue

Hi Sue,
i know she wont have them or she would of said, she takes an interest in the family history i'm doing, but when i start to tell her who is who she says "oh you're getting me confused now!"
i remember one time when i told her i had found the ref for dads death cert and i was going to send for it and she said "oh i think i've got that somewhere!" but when she went to look it wasn't there, but i can remember years and years ago her throwing it out saying she did'nt need it anymore! [she is 78 now]i was'nt into all this then, but i am going to send for it one day.

Chris.